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Humorous Illustrator,
Designer and Teacher...

Biography:

Jack was
born in Orlando, FL during the Pre-Disney World Epoch and
started cartooning before entering the first grade. He
grew up on the beaches of the East coast of Florida in Daytona
Beach and later Melbourne. Cassady graduated from Melbourne
High School and attended Furman University in Greenville, SC.

At Furman Cassady
played freshman football and belonged to the Kappa Alpha Order.
He majored in Art, became the student newspaper editorial
cartoonist and won Furman’s Maxwell Award in Art upon graduating
with a B.A. degree.

Cassady was also a Distinguished Military
Graduate from Furman’s Army R.O.T.C. program. Later he earned an
M.A. degree in Education from Furman and taught there in the Army
R.O.T.C. program. Jack went on to serve 22 years as an Army
Officer.

His command and staff assignments
ranged from the historic 82nd Airborne (“All American”)
Division and various Special Forces units in combat, to positions
in the 18th Airborne Corps Headquarters and the 1st
Region Army R.O.T.C Headquarters junior and senior programs.

He
also served as Professor of Military Science and Chairman of the
Army R.O.T.C. departments at Georgia Military College and the
University of Tennessee at Martin. Cassady has many U.S. military
and foreign awards and decorations. While in the service Jack
began freelancing gag cartoons to magazines and publications as a
hobby. He retired from the Army at the rank of Lieutenant
Colonel.

After leaving the
service and returning to graduate school at Memphis State
University (now the University of Memphis) Cassady earned another
M.A. degree in Independent Studies focusing on the academic
areas of Illustration, Design and the Copyright Law for Visual
Communications.

It was during this time he created, produced and
hosted the Public TV series called “Funny Business, the Art in
Cartooning” in conjunction with his good friend Harmon McBride,
the executive producer of Tennessee’s largest Public TV station, WDCN
in Nashville, TN. Thirteen half hour episodes of the popular
series were seen in approximately 38 states over a three year
period.

Cassady taught cartooning at the University of Memphis in
the Continuing Education program. He also founded a club of area
cartoonists, writers, collectors and fans who enjoyed cartoon
art. The Mid-South Cartoonists Association is still flourishing
in the Memphis area.

After graduate
school in Memphis, Cassady returned to Florida and opened a small
graphic arts studio in North Tampa specializing in Cartooning and
Humorous Illustration. He continued teaching part time at the
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg Junior College and
Hillsborough Community College. He taught Cartooning, Basic
Design, Drawing, Illustration, Professional Practices and Art
Appreciation courses. Many weekends found Jack providing
entertainment by drawing caricatures for business meetings,
parties, clubs and conventions in the Tampa Bay area.

He also conducted
several work shops on the copyright law for visual
communications. Cassady has lectured at colleges, universities,
art schools and agencies throughout the country and has written
many articles for publication on the subject. He also started
another club catering to cartoon arts and those who do it and love
it in the Tampa/ St. Petersburg/Clearwater area. The Suncoast
Inkslingers Club (S.I.C.) was born around 1994 and is still going
strong and has expanded to include members from Central Florida.

Cassady was given
the opportunity to become the Chairman of the Department of
Sequential Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in
Savannah, GA in 1998. While at SCAD he reorganized and
relocated the unique department and led them through an
Academic Accreditation inspection.

Jack also taught Cartooning,
Sequential Art/ Visual Storytelling, Graduate and Undergraduate
Figure Drawing and Art Business classes. He left SCAD and became
the Art Director for the prestigious Heartland Boating
Magazine.

His work as a frequent contributor for the Heartland Boating magazine
is conducted
from his studio near Murphy, high in the beautiful mountains of
Western North Carolina. He lives and works with his lovely wife,
pet dogs, cats and various critters of the forest. Jack teaches
occasional private classes and part time for the nearby renowned J.C.Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC (home of the famous New
Year’s Eve Possum Drop)

He’s active in numerous church, community
and national organizations and still finds time for drawing,
painting, photography, reading, writing, hiking, FPS multiplayer
computer internet games and an occasional skydive.

Appearances & Presentations:

Jack is a public
speaker and has made numerous presentations about the funny
business of cartooning to audiences of all sizes and ages. He
created, produced and hosted the public TV series, “Funny
Business-the Art in Cartooning”. He also served as an
Artist-In-Residence for the city of Germantown, TN and was
selected to participate in the Artists in Education Program by the
State of Florida from 1995-98. An authority on the Copyright Law
for Visual Communications, Cassady has presented seminars,
lectures and workshops to various schools, visual artists and
businesses across the nation.